Dinner

Smoky Garlic Bacon Cheeseburger Taco Cups

A whole bacon cheeseburger, folded into a crispy little taco cup. Flour tortillas get pressed into a muffin tin and baked into crunchy shells, then loaded with smoky garlic beef straight from the cast-iron skillet, crumbled bacon, and a blanket of pepper jack that goes back in the oven until it bubbles. Cool sour cream, tomato, lettuce, and cilantro on top, three cups to a plate — taco night and burger night in the same bite. One honest note: the original caption promised the written recipe in the comments and it never showed up there, so the amounts below are our standard build, worked out from the reel itself.

▶Watch the original reel

Ingredients

• 12 small flour tortillas (fajita size)
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1½ cups shredded pepper jack cheese
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 medium tomato, finely diced
• 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Steps

1. Crisp the shells: Heat the oven to 375°F. Press one tortilla into each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin, folding and pleating the edges so each one forms a little bowl. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the shells are crisp and lightly golden. Leave them in the tin.
2. Cook the bacon: While the shells bake, lay the bacon in a cold cast-iron skillet, set it over medium heat, and cook, turning once, until deep and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Lift it onto a paper-towel-lined plate and crumble it. Pour off all but about a teaspoon of the drippings.
3. Brown the beef: Add the ground beef to the same skillet over medium-high heat. Break it apart and cook until it goes from pink to deeply browned with crisp edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle over the garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, and black pepper and stir for 30 seconds so the seasoning blooms in the fat. Drain any excess fat.
4. Fill the cups: Spoon the hot beef straight from the skillet into all 12 shells. Scatter the crumbled bacon over every cup, then cover each one with shredded pepper jack.
5. Bake until bubbling: Return the tin to the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the pepper jack is fully melted and bubbling on every cup.
6. Top and serve: Lift the cups out of the tin and set them on a platter. Dollop each one with sour cream, then add the diced tomato, shredded lettuce, and cilantro. Serve right away, three cups to a plate.

Recipe adapted from Cheesy Burger Cup Cravings’ Crispy Smoky Garlic Double Bacon Cheeseburger Pepper Jack Taco Cups (Facebook Page) — original reel. Her caption promised the written recipe in the comments, but it never appeared there, so the amounts here are our standard build, worked out from the reel’s breakdown. Macros are estimates computed from that ingredient list (a pound of 80/20 beef, six slices of bacon, pepper jack, and three small flour tortillas per serving).